West Seventh Street development features hotel, apartments

Minnetonka-based Opus Development revealed plans for a 140-room hotel and 180-unit residential complex along downtown St. Paul's West Seventh Street to replace the iconic Ace Seven Corners Hardware store at West Seventh and Chestnut streets. (Image courtesy of Opus Development)

A six-story, two-building complex combining a hotel, market-rate apartments, townhomes, retailers and up to 300 parking stalls could soon replace the Ace Seven Corners Hardware Store on West Seventh Street.

Opus Development Co. on Monday revealed redevelopment plans for the site, located off Chestnut Street and a block from the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.

Officials with the Minnetonka-based development company met Monday with dozens of community members at the old West Seventh Street Fire Station No. 1 to present their vision.

They were mostly well-received. "I think it's just about perfect," said Erik Hare, a board member with the Fort Road Federation. "In the neighborhood, we've always envisioned density gradually scaling up into downtown. This part of the city has always had holes in the fabric. ... This will weave that together."

Opus will likely submit a formal development plan to the city in mid-August for review, and some aspects of the design could change. "It's all a moving plan right now," said Nick Murnane, an Opus real estate manager.

The company announced in January that it had planned "an exciting mixed-use project" to replace the 80-year-old, family-run hardware store and the adjacent Free at Last Church of God in Christ. The company revealed few additional details at the time.

In response, some residents and neighboring business owners raised questions about parking and whether the new building will fit with its surroundings.

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Owners of the iconic hardware store closed its doors this spring, leaving Opus with an option to buy.

The new complex would slope from six stories at West Seventh Street down to five stories toward the Mississippi River.

The design would preserve the existing Eagle Street Grille and the shops immediately bordering it. Next door, the L-shaped hotel would have 140 rooms. Guests would enter on West Seventh Street or through a car drop-off on Eagle Street.

Company officials have not announced a hotel partner, but they envision a "select service" provider along the lines of a Hilton Garden Inn, offering continental breakfast and basic workout facilities but not a restaurant or full-sized conference rooms.

Next door, a U-shaped residential building would contain 180 market-rate apartments above four or five ground-level retailers, all of which would be wrapped around two levels of parking. The residences include a series of two-story townhomes with entrances off Chestnut Street and to the south of the structure.

The design accommodates 275 to 300 parking stalls, with the top of the parking lot serving as an amenity deck for residents.

"We want to make sure that the retail is really accessed off of the street," as opposed to a suburban-style development with parking in front, said David Graham, project architect with Elness Swenson Graham Architects in Minneapolis.

The apartments would likely fall in the same price range as the city's luxury Penfield development.

"There's some things we'll do very differently to what they did, but that's kind of where the market is for rental," said Matt Rauenhorst, senior director with Opus.

Once site plans are submitted, city staff will determine if the project needs zoning variances. If approved, demolition could take place in the late fall and early winter. Construction, which could take 12 months or more, could begin in March.

Architectural historian and nearby resident Jim Sazevich said the block touches the city's first national historic district, which begins at Chestnut and Exchange streets.

The West Seventh Street business district housed hotels decades ago and that's among the uses he'd like to see return. "I'm excited about it," he said of the Opus plan. "I think they're being sensitive enough to the city (history). This was one of the first city blocks ever built on."